Old Pain, New Trial in Killing

It was a balmy day in June 1980 when gunfire erupted at the Cripple Creek Saloon in Garden Grove. When it was over, one police officer was dead; two other officers and two bar patrons lay wounded.

The alleged gunman, John George Brown, was convicted in one of Orange County’s bloodiest shootings and received a death sentence from a jury two years later. He has spent the last 15 years on death row at San Quentin.

But today, Brown will be back in Orange County Superior Court for the beginning of a new trial in the slaying of Officer Donald Reed. The trial, which was ordered in 1998 by the state Supreme Court, has revived painful memories about that violent night for those who lived through it.

“I feel sorry for the parents of Officer Reed, who haven’t had closure in nearly 20 years,” said Dwight Henninger, one of the officers wounded in the shooting. “It is not swift justice in any manner.”

Glenn Overly, a reserve officer and Reed’s partner at the time, was wounded in the chest, abdomen and hand during the attack. Like Henninger, he is bracing for the emotional punch of a new trial.

“We don’t have a choice but to move on,” said Overly, now an investigator with the district attorney’s office.

Fearful that talking about the case might influence the newly impaneled jury and cause even more delays, Overly declined to say more--as did Bryan Brown, the assistant district attorney who prosecuted Brown 18 years ago and now is handling the retrial. The defense attorney did not return calls seeking comment.

The California Supreme Court ordered the new trial over questions about whether the prosecution failed to forward evidence to the defense attorneys in the original trial.

Shortly after his arrest, Brown was given a drug screening test for PCP, a hallucinogenic drug also known as angel dust. A preliminary test showed that he might have taken the drug, but a more thorough test did not detect any drugs, according to authorities. Jurors heard of the final test, but not the first one.

During appeals, Brown’s attorneys said the defense never received the results of the initial test. They argued that not having the results prevented Brown from putting up a defense of diminished mental capacity because of possible drug use. Such a defense could show that the murder was not premeditated. The justices ordered a new trial or a lesser sentence that didn’t carry the death penalty. The district attorney’s office decided to retry.

The case stems from a wild shooting that Garden Grove police that remained etched in the city’s memory.

On the night of June 9, 1980, Officer Paul McInerny spotted a car parked outside the Cripple Creek Saloon on Garden Grove Boulevard. The car belonged to Brown, a ponytailed biker who was wanted on drug and assault charges. McInerny and his partner, Henninger, called for backup. Reed and Overly joined them shortly afterward.

According to authorities, when the officers entered the bar to arrest Brown, he initially cooperated.

But as the group was leaving the tavern, Brown pulled a .22-caliber pistol from his jacket pocket and started shooting, officials said. Reed was fatally shot in the chest. Besides Henninger and Overly, two bar patrons also were injured--one shot in the head.

A massive manhunt ensued. Brown was found about an hour later crouching behind some bushes near the bar.

Brown, now 51, spent years on death row--until 1998 when the Supreme Court ordered a new trial. Soon after, he was transferred back to Orange County Jail.

Garden Grove Police Capt. Dave Albrecht, who joined the force in 1977 at the same time as Reed, said he and others at the department will watch the proceedings closely.

Albrecht said he remembers Reed as a generous, low-key officer who performed magic tricks at community events in his spare time. Reed was married and had two children.

“He was competent and quiet, not loud and boisterous,” said Albrecht, adding that Reed was interested in dealing with narcotics crimes.

Reed’s parents still regularly attend the department’s annual memorial for slain officers, he said, but it’s harder for his wife to relive the memories.

“It opens an old, old wound,” Albrecht added.